This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic Camera
on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. vdB
141 is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus.
Sometimes referred to as the ghost nebula, its awkward name is its
catalog number in Sidney van den Bergh's catalog of reflection nebulae,
published in 1966. Several stars are embedded in the nebula. Their light
gives it a ghoulish brown color. North is down and East is to the
right. Imaged August 28, 2009.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

In this week's episode, our collective uber-ADD was in full effect. So Tara and I manage to make our way to everything from Spontaneous human combustion, UFO's and paranormal beliefs, to TMNT remakes, future technology, as well as a few other things. All in all, I think it's a fun episode. If you agree, why not Subscribe on iTunes ? Also, I had a sudden burst of inspiration during production. So those of you who make it past the outro music, will be handsomely rewarded. Well, reward might not be the right word. let's just say, something lurks just beyond the closing credits this week, and leave it at that....

Though a number of new artificial limbs have been developed which can be controlled by the brain through both direct and indirect neural interfaces -either by being wired directly into the patient's nervous system or by monitoring electrical fluctuations in the brain via an external controller or interface. Figuring out how to integrate artificial systems directly into the human nervous system to allow for communication both to and from such devices and the brain, remains a difficult problem to resolve. Which is why as exceptional a thing as they still are, even the most advanced modern prosthetic devices are typically capable of delivering either control or sensation, but not both.

One of the promising looking attempts to overcome the current limitation of advanced prosthetic replacements, are experiments being conducted by a Swedish research group called École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Having already had significant success with previous devices, the EPFL now has plans to fit an unnamed man from Rome, with an advanced robotic hand which they described as the first ever to deliver real-time
sensory
feedback, directly through the recipient's own nervous system.

The planned procedure -which is set to happen later this year in
Switzerland- follows the success of an earlier portable version of the
hand that was tested In 2009, on a man who suffered the loss
of half of one of his arms in an auto accident. After being temporarily
fitted with this earlier version of the device, xxx was reportedly able to manipulate and grasp objects with his new hand, as well as being able to feel the
sensation of needles pricked into it's palm. All that despite this earlier version of the prosthetic having only two sensory zones. The current model is capable of transmitting sensory feedback from all
of it's fingertips, as well as it's palm and wrist, potentially
providing a much more life-like feeling for it's recipient.

According to Dr. Silvestro Micera, who is Head of the Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory at EPFL and Professor at the
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy, the newest version of the device will be attached directly
into the patient’s nervous system via
electrodes clipped onto the median and ulnar nerves in the arm. The
expectation is that this method of attachment should allow for a
bidirectional flow of information between the prosthetic and the
patient's brain, enabling it's recipient to control the device by
thought, while simultaneously receiving tactile sensations from the prosthetic itself, and all in real time.

Speaking of neural computer interfaces. In the above Ted
Talk, brain-machine interface scientist Miguel Nicolelis, discusses his
own on going research into the science behind said interfaces, using a
monkey named Aurora.

Just before we set out to record this weeks podcast Tara reminded me of a story that had made the rounds earlier in the week, about a genetic study which had supposedly produced definitive evidence of the existence of Bigfoot. What I didn't realize at the time of recording, was that the "study" in question was the same one that had been announced in November of last year, by Texas Vetrenarian and genetic researcher Melba Ketchum. Once I realized this was the case, I started to wonder why it was in the news again. Turns out, after months of struggling through the peer review process, the team's research paper was finally published on Feburary 14th, in the well known and highly respected "DeNovo Scientific Journal".

What's that? "I've never heard of the Denovo Scientific Journal." you say? Well, that's probably because - according to the Huffpo, anyway- it was first registered with godaddy.com (anonymously) on February 4th, 2013, for a period of one year, and currently contains only one published paper "The Bigfoot Genome Paper"; AKA, the "study" in question. Seems legit, right?

Aside from the dubious method of publication, which we'll get back to shortly, the problems with the study, the likely rational explanation, as well as why the paper was rejected for publication by legitimate scientific journals, seems pretty obvious. Best case scenario, the samples were contaminated. Which the group, of course, insists couldn't possibly be the case, since they were very careful to eliminate that possibility. Which I'd be willing to give them the befit of the doubt on, had the 1,100 samples used in the study not been collected, handled, and stored, by untrained individuals, from 34 different sites across North America [Yahoo News]. Which, again, one might be willing to forgive, if their claims weren't so definitive.

“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens. "

"Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.”

Mmmm-kay. Maybe it's just me. But, "mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence", sounds a lot like: Collection of unrelated genetic materials most likely originating from multiple sources, some of which we can't identify. But, okay. Is there anything else we should know?

“Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”

O_o

Soooo.... Remind me again why you decided to self publish? I mean, the flaws in your study's methodology seem glaringly obvious, even to a dum-dum like me. And you did just say you wanted to give constitutional rights to a creature no one other than you has ever "confirmed" the existence of. But I have a feeling you suspect more devious intentions towards your work, are to blame.

"It has been a long and tedious battle to prove that Sasquatch exists... Trying to publish has taken almost two years. It seems mainstream science just can't seem to tolerate something controversial, especially from a group of primarily forensic scientists and not 'famous academians' aligned with large universities, even though most of our sequencing and analysis was performed at just such facilities."

Oh, THERE it is. It always comes down to this, doesn't it? What I've come to call "the
X-files argument"; the assertion that the mean old dogmatic doctrine of
the scientific establishment is holdin' ya down, cause they're all just
too close minded to challenge accepted facts. In short, it's nonsense.

Even if the "scientific
establishment" did choose to dogmatically
resist or deliberately deny their findings, it wouldn't matter. Because,
as the saying goes:
the great thing about science is that it's true, weather you believe
it or not. Which really means- objective truths, are objective truths,
regardless of who discovers them. So If you've done your science
correctly.
If what you think you've found, really is what you say it is. Then
proving it's true, is only a matter of someone else looking in the same
place, and seeing the same thing. And sooner or later that WILL happen
regardless of weather you, or anyone else for that matter, tells them
where to look or not. But if what you've claimed to have discovered,
truly is something that only you can manage to see. Then whatever it is
you may think you've found, it isn't science. That's what that whole peer
review process Melba's research
couldn't get past, is all about.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

As you are likely well aware -because unlike me, you exist in the same time frame as most other people in the world- a large meteor went streaking across the sky in Russia early Friday morning (FEB 15th). The object is not believed to have been directly related to the much more
massive -150 feet (45 meters) wide- asteroid 2012 AD14, which passed within about 17,000 miles of
Earth later the same day, without incident.

NASA has estimated the size of the object over Russia, at 50-55 feet across, and 7,000 -10,000 tons, and that it was traveling somewhere in the range of 40,000 MPH, when it exploded. The blast created as the meteor impacted with the
Earth's atmosphere is estimated to have been the equivalent of a 470-kiloton explosion, and managed to cause sever damage to a Zinc processing plant, as well as shattering windows throughout the
city of Chelyabinsk, injuring about 1000 people. The incident is being described as the most significant of it's kind since the Tunguska event of 1908, in which an unknown object - possibly a small comet - exploded over the Russian wilderness, leveling trees for several hundred square miles.

There are obviously LOADS of videos and pictures available of the incident. Of the two I've chosen to post, the one above is sort of a compilation, which includes bits from many of the most popular videos, along with some stuff I hadn't seen from security cameras, as well as footage of some of the damage caused by the blast. The one below, I choose because it captures the gap between the object's passing, and the sound of the explosion itself. Which, as you'll see, happens a considerably long time after the object has disappeared from view, illustrating just how fast it was actually traveling.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

If I were better at planning posts for the site, had a different work schedule, or hadn't just spent the better part of the past four hours fighting with my internet connection, I would have prepared something of substance for Darwin day. Instead, here's my admittedly anemic, and just barely on time/on topic offering, in the form of yet another true fact video from ze Frank. This time around, evolution checks in on the Katydid. All in all, things seem to be going well for the creature... except for where the monkeys are concerned.

As my beloved technology continues to torment and betray me, this week's episode of My Favorite Show arrives a little over a week late. Last week, I just didn't feel like fighting with the internets, and this week, it took revenge upon me. But, I finally managed to edit what we got into submission, and I hope you'll be pleased with the result. Since it is the first show of a new month, that means, new artwork. And in case you couldn't guess by the subject mater, this month's artwork was done by me.

Our Favorite Things: This week, Tara and I took a trip to our favorite comic shop, where she picked up an issue of the series "The Boys". Which, for those of you who prefer the digital format, you can also find on the comixology site/ mobile apps. Not to be out-geeked, this week, I have chosen one of my new favorite podcasts: Nerd Poker with Brian Posehn. In which, Posehn and friends gather to play D&D.